RiverRat
Patsy Ramsey to the Left
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SARASOTA -- A judge on Thursday ruled against allowing Coralrose Fullwood's parents to have unsupervised visits with their children.
In denying Dale and Ellen-Beth Fullwood's request, Judge Rick De Furia said they haven't been cleared in the death of Coralrose, 6. The judge also cited the ongoing investigation into the deplorable conditions in the Fullwoods' North Port home.
"I'm not trying to imply the parents are responsible for the death," De Furia said in upholding his previous order that gave custody of the Fullwoods' four children to their grandparents, and requiring that the grandparents be there for all parental visits.
Coralrose was found dead two blocks from her North Port home on Sept. 17. The state took the remaining Fullwood children from their parents after child protective workers said the home was so filthy it posed a hazard to the children.
In an initial report, state child protective workers also said Coralrose's death was "suspicious for abuse or neglect." Police say her cause of death was "homicidal violence."
Testimony at an hour-long hearing showed the Department of Children & Families, or DCF, made a mistake handling the case.
And more than a week after the judge gave custody of the children to the grandparents, the agency wasn't prepared to answer De Furia's questions about the safety of the grandparents' home.
An attorney for the Fullwoods complained at the hearing that DCF's requests for access to the children were arbitrary and repetitive, including a second request for a study of the Doreen and Saul VanderWoude's home. Saul VanderWoude is a retired police officer.
"What was wrong with the first home study?" Fort Myers-based attorney John Coleman said. Lutheran Services in Charlotte County had notified the grandparents that a home study was needed.
But it turned out that was a mistake by Lutheran Services, which had been contacted by the YMCA in Sarasota to go to the home for grief counseling for Coralrose's siblings.
When the Lutheran Services workers didn't see the home study on their computer system, they scheduled it and notified Coralrose's grandparents, a YMCA employee testified.
De Furia responded by changing a previous ruling, in which he had ordered the grandparents to make the children available to law enforcement and DCF at all times.
He changed it to all "lawful and reasonable" requests, also ordering the attorneys to work these issues out without involving the court.
But De Furia also used stern language with caseworkers when they couldn't answer the most basic of questions about the children's placement: Were background checks completed on the residents of the children's new home, and what were the results?
De Furia wanted to know, since he placed the children in the grandparents' home and ordered expedited background checks on everyone in the house.
But the caseworker who did the home study was not there because she had called in sick, a DCF attorney said. Also, DCF did not anticipate that De Furia would ask the question.
"A child's been murdered, these are answers you should have had on the tip of your tongue, frankly," De Furia said.
Finally, a caseworker who was listening to the hearing by way of teleconference, checked records and said the background checks had come back clean.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060929/NEWS/609290341/1264/NEWS0103
In denying Dale and Ellen-Beth Fullwood's request, Judge Rick De Furia said they haven't been cleared in the death of Coralrose, 6. The judge also cited the ongoing investigation into the deplorable conditions in the Fullwoods' North Port home.
"I'm not trying to imply the parents are responsible for the death," De Furia said in upholding his previous order that gave custody of the Fullwoods' four children to their grandparents, and requiring that the grandparents be there for all parental visits.
Coralrose was found dead two blocks from her North Port home on Sept. 17. The state took the remaining Fullwood children from their parents after child protective workers said the home was so filthy it posed a hazard to the children.
In an initial report, state child protective workers also said Coralrose's death was "suspicious for abuse or neglect." Police say her cause of death was "homicidal violence."
Testimony at an hour-long hearing showed the Department of Children & Families, or DCF, made a mistake handling the case.
And more than a week after the judge gave custody of the children to the grandparents, the agency wasn't prepared to answer De Furia's questions about the safety of the grandparents' home.
An attorney for the Fullwoods complained at the hearing that DCF's requests for access to the children were arbitrary and repetitive, including a second request for a study of the Doreen and Saul VanderWoude's home. Saul VanderWoude is a retired police officer.
"What was wrong with the first home study?" Fort Myers-based attorney John Coleman said. Lutheran Services in Charlotte County had notified the grandparents that a home study was needed.
But it turned out that was a mistake by Lutheran Services, which had been contacted by the YMCA in Sarasota to go to the home for grief counseling for Coralrose's siblings.
When the Lutheran Services workers didn't see the home study on their computer system, they scheduled it and notified Coralrose's grandparents, a YMCA employee testified.
De Furia responded by changing a previous ruling, in which he had ordered the grandparents to make the children available to law enforcement and DCF at all times.
He changed it to all "lawful and reasonable" requests, also ordering the attorneys to work these issues out without involving the court.
But De Furia also used stern language with caseworkers when they couldn't answer the most basic of questions about the children's placement: Were background checks completed on the residents of the children's new home, and what were the results?
De Furia wanted to know, since he placed the children in the grandparents' home and ordered expedited background checks on everyone in the house.
But the caseworker who did the home study was not there because she had called in sick, a DCF attorney said. Also, DCF did not anticipate that De Furia would ask the question.
"A child's been murdered, these are answers you should have had on the tip of your tongue, frankly," De Furia said.
Finally, a caseworker who was listening to the hearing by way of teleconference, checked records and said the background checks had come back clean.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060929/NEWS/609290341/1264/NEWS0103
